Stains
by Kia Vail-Kagami
Summary: When both Hokuto and Seishiro fail to protect Subaru, it turns out that sometimes they are not so different after all.


Subaru never screamed. He never made a noise when he was hurt. Hokuto hated it; it made it so hard to tell when he was in pain that she constantly had to have an eye on him.

It wasn't pride, Hokuto knew, but a lack of self-worth that never cased to amaze and worry her. The instinct that made any normal person inform the world of their suffering Subaru simply lacked. Once, when they were little, he had fallen off a tree and broken his wrist, and they hadn't noticed for two days because he didn't think it was worth bothering his family with. Their grandmother had noticed when Subaru was uncharacteristically clumsy in performing his spells, and later eight-years-old Hokuto had tried to smother him with a pillow. Somehow her action had failed to deliver the message, as Subaru had never learned any better.

Subaru never made a noise when he was hurt, so she didn't immediately notice when it happened. One moment he was in the place where they had agreed to meet, for once on time, but running on without noticing them, running after someone or something. And then a young man collided with him in the crowd, just for a second, and Hokuto _didn't notice_.

Subaru stood still for a moment, one hand pressed to his stomach. From where she was standing, Hokuto couldn't see his face, but she saw him stumble and fall to his knees, and then she saw the blood on the pavement.

Someone cried out, somewhere in the crowd, and everyone was stepping back. Only Hokuto was running towards Subaru; Hokuto and Seishiro, who was faster than her and had nearly reached Subaru when he got stumbling to his feet again and after the young man who had long since disappeared in the crowd. Two steps, three, and for one second Hokuto was convinced that Seishiro would run after that man as well, past her brother who was spilling his blood onto the street. She thought she remembered hearing her voice screaming Subaru's name but had no memory of doing so.

Then Subaru fell forward and Seishiro was there to catch him. Hokuto was with them in a second, skinning her knees on the sidewalk, pressing her hands to the wound in her brother's abdomen. "Don't move," she told him breathlessly. "You'll be fine. Help is coming." If only someone called an ambulance! There were so many people, staring at them. If only one of them would _do something_.

"Don't…" Subaru gasped out, and squeezed shut his eyes in pain. "I have to… he'll…"

"No, don't speak. It's okay."

"You don't understand." Subaru tried to get out of Seishiro's arms even as his eyes were losing focus. Somewhere in the distance there was the sound of a siren. "I have to stop... him…" He passed out.

And on Seishiro's face, as she dared to look up, Hokuto saw an expression of disbelieving horror, like he couldn't understand how this could be happening, how they could have _let _it happen. He pulled Subaru closer, away from Hokuto, as if his mere presence could keep him alive.

"Sei-chan," she whispered, almost a plea and almost a question. _Don't take him from me, please_, she wanted to scream, without even knowing at whom.

Then, suddenly, there were paramedics all around them, pushing her out of the way, but when they pulled her brother out of Seishiro's arms, Subaru kept hold of his hand, the blood that had soaked his glove leaving stains on Seishiro's skin.

"…please…" Hokuto could hardly make out his voice. "… he can't…" His hand slipped away.

Seishiro stood up, his face grim. "Don't worry, Subaru-kun," he promised the unconscious boy. "I'll take care of him." Something in his voice made Hokuto shiver.

She looked up and for a second their eyes met. There was a cold anger in his gaze – not even hatred, but a cruel, unstoppable determination that chilled her to the bone. And if he had told her, ever, what he saw in her eyes that moment, Hokuto would have denied it, for that wasn't her. She wasn't like this.

"Yes," she said and turned to watch a bunch of strangers take her bleeding little brother into the ambulance. "Do that."

-

Seishiro came to the hospital the next morning to find Hokuto already sitting at her brother's bedside. Subaru was still sleeping and still pale, but the doctor had told Seishiro that he would recover.

"He stabbed him with a knife," Hokuto said instead on a greeting, her voice bitter and her eyes never leaving her brother's face. "Because Subaru wanted to keep from killing his ex-wife and their daughter with a spell."

Seishiro already knew that, had been told without asking. He hadn't been interested in the man's motivation.

"He woke up, then?"

"I'm supposed to protect him," Hokuto went on as if she hadn't heard him. "Some big sister I am."

"You're the same age, Hokuto-chan," Seishiro said soothingly, pulling a chair over to the bed and pushing away the memory of feeling his entire future slip out of his grasp. "No one expects you to keep him safe all the time."

"I do," Hokuto spat, tightening her hold on Subaru's limp hand. He was still wearing his black gloves, a stark contrast to the white hospital gown that made him look skinny. He needed to eat more, Hokuto always said.

Eventually, she told him, "The police has someone near his room all the time, in case the guy comes for him again." Seishiro recognized the unspoken question in her words.

"They don't need to," the Sakuazukamori said.

"Ah." Hokuto nodded, and fell still, not looking at him and not looking at Subaru while the air filled with a hundred questions she would never ask. Finally she said, "Good."

Then she stood and went to put the kettle on for tea.

June 14, 2009


End file.
